Attachment for printing-presses



H. F. AYLOR. ATTAGHMENI' FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED IAN. 22; 1920.

Patented Jan. 25, 1921.

@s arrojan@ UNTD STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HOWARD F. AYLOR, 0F W'SI-IINGTON, DISTRECT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-I-IALIEl TO GEORGE R. GRAY, O1 WASHINGTON, IDLSTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

ATTACHMENT FOR RNTING-PBIESSES.

Application filed January 22, 1926.

To all whom z' may concer/rb.'

Be it known that l, HOWARD F. AYLOR, a citizen of the United States,residing at Washington, District of Columbia, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Attachments for Printing-Presses, of whichthe following is a specilication.

This invention relates generally to an improvement in printing presses,and particularly to a protective means whereby to advise the operator inthe event more than a single sheet is in printing position on the platenof the press for presentation to the f type for printing.

Considerable diiiculty and resultant dainage has resulted from theaccidental feeding to the platen of more than a single sheet of paperfor printing, as the additional thickness nearly always results indamage to the type andv requires a new set up to complete the work. Ithas beenk heretofore proposed to sound an alarm and stop the press inthe event more than one sheet is being fed to the platen, but suchconstructions only take care of automatic feeding of a particular type,and could not be used in hand feeding or simple gripper feeding.

The present invention is directed to protecting the press and typeagainst damage by sounding an alarm as the gripper arms move onto thepaper on the platen to hold the same for printing, in the event thatmore than one thickness of paper or more than the desired thicknessshould be on the platen; the alarm indication permitting the operator toactuate the` trip to hold the platen from moving to full printingposition.

The invention, broadly stated includes an alarm circuit, terminating atthe gripper arm in normally spaced contacts, which under a proper paperthickness on the platen will not be brought together to close thecircuit, any additional thickness, however, closinfr such contact foralarm sounding.

lldore speciiically, the invention provides a contact strip which issecured to the under side of the gripper arm and insulated therefrom,the strip forming one terminal of a circuit, the other terminal beinggrounded to the machine and hence leading through the gripper armproper. A slide is mounted for adjustment longitudinally of the gripperarm, and ,provides metallic vcontact with Specilcation of LettersPatent.

Patented Jan. 25, 1921.

Serial No. 353,194.

sucli arm. A contact arm is secured to and in electrical contact withsuch slide, and a second contact arm is secured to the slide butinsulated therefrom. The second arm overlies and bears on the contactstrip, and the inner terminals of the contact arms are bent toward eachother and normally spaced the required distance. Vhen the terminals ofthe Contact arms are forced together by contact with an excess of paper,the .circuit is closed, as the contact strip serves to complete thecircuit through the contact arm overlying the same, in any adjustedposition of the slide.. lThe invention also contemplates means wherebythe closing movement of .the gripper arms may be adjustably limited tocompensate for any additional thickness of material usually employed onthe platen in making ready for the job.

In the drawings z- Figure l is a perspective view, of suiiicient aportion of a conventional type of press to illustrate the application ofthe invent-ion.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a gripper arm with thecontacts in position thereon.

3 is a bottoni plan of the saine.

' F ig. 4t is a View in elevation partly in section illustrating theposition of the parts when coperatingwith a sheet of predeterminedthickness.

Fig. 5 is a similar view showing the positions of the parts whencoperatiiig with a sheet of greater thickness, or with two sheets.

As here shown, the improvement is directed particularly to an alarmmechanism, including an alarm l, a circuit 2, and source of energy 3,adapted to be normally open under all proper working conditions, and tob e particularly closed in the event, an undesirable number of sheets ofpaper are on the platen 4: of the press 5, for presentation t0 the type.

The circuit 2 is controlled by the thickness of paper when in printingposition on the platen, and for such control there is provided a circuitcloser including contact plates 6 and 7 secured to the gripper arm 8,which arm is operated by the gripper bar 9 in the usual manner.

in specifically arranging the Contact plates Z and 8 for coperation withthe gripper arm it is necessary to have such plates adjustablelongitudinally of the arm Cir to provide tor use with paper ol differentlengths, and avoid interference with the alarm circuit conditions duringand following such adjustment.

To secure this result, a contact strip 1() is arranged on and secured tothe lower surface olf' such gripper arm S, such strip 10 extendingsubstantially the i'ull length oif the arm and being insulated thereuponby suitable insulating material 11. VA. metallic block 12, recessed at13 to receive the gripj er arm 8, is slidably mounted on such gripperarm and held in adjusted position longitudinally of such arm byset-screw 14. One oi the contact plates as 7 projects from the inneredge of such block 12, being preterably an independent section as ofcopper, secured to the upper surface ot the block, as shown. The othercontact plate 6 is secured to the outer edge of the lower surface of theblock 12, and insulated from such block, as at 15. The plate 7 extendsacross the contact strip 10, beneath the inner edge oi block 1Q', beingprotected from contact with such block by an insulating strip 16 securedon the Glock.

The plates 6 and 7 extend beyond the inner edges of the block as spacedlingers in superimposed alinement and one, as 6 has its free edge 17bent toward the other plate 7, so that said plates are so arranged thattheir free edges are immediately adjacent each other and normally spacedapart a distance slightly in excess of the thickness ot a single sheetof paper 18 of the character be.- ing printed, so that when said arm 8presses upon such single sheet no contact ot such edges 17 can result,and the circuit remains open. If, however a greater thickness than thatdesired is on the platen, as for example two or more. sheets ot paper,then the additional thickness will cause the contacts 17 and 7 to meet,the circuit 2 will be closed, and the alarm 1 sounded.

It will be understood that under any contact movement of arm 8 thecircuit is completed through and by contact with strip 10, the latterbeing terminally provided'at 19 with circuit Wire connecting means. Theother circuit Wire is grounded through the press, this including thegripper arm 8 in proper circuit.

The operator may then operate the trip or throw out and prevent a fullprinting movement of the platen, and liability of injury to the type isprevented.

In making ready, it is frequently neces` sary to build up the platen bystrips or sheets of paper or cardboard for a proper printing surface. Tocompensate for the additional and permanent thickness, means must beprovided to correspondingly increase the necessary relative movement oitthe contacts or limit the closing position of the gripper arm.

There is here shown a means for such purpose, indicated by a set screw20 adjustable in and inverted from the gripper, and operative to limitthe closing position ot such arm to compensate tor the additionalthickness ol' platen material. @t course this result can be gainedthrong" a variety ot inechanical expedients, and the specific detailhere shown in such connection, is designed to indicate any and all suchknown mechanical elements tor this purpose when used in combination withthe contact members described.

`Whilc preferring an audible alarm 1, a usual or desired type may beusedas best suited to the particular user.

Claims:

1. A gripper arm of a printing press, and a circuit closing attachmentto be moved into contact with the paper engaged by said arm, saidattachment being operated by a predetermined thickness of such paper toclose a circuit.

A printing press gripper arm having circuit closing contacts carriedthereb said contacts having normally spaced en s projecting beyond theinner edge of the arm.

8. A printing press gripper arm having circuit closing contacts carriedthereby, one of said contacts having an inturned end projected towardthe other contact and normally spaced therefrom, the operative ends otthe contacts projecting beyond the inner edge of the arm. Y

e. A printing press gripper arm having circuit closing contacts carriedthereb said contacts having normally spaced en s projecting beyond theinner edge of the. arm, and means for adjusting the closing limit ofsuch arm,

5. A printing press gripper arm having contact plates secured inrecesses in the upper and lower surfaces of such arm, means to insulatesuch plates from the arm, Said plates projecting transversely of the armand beyond one side edge thereof, the ends oi the plates beyond the armbeingr bent toward each other and alined, the tree edges of such endsbeing normally spaced.

G. A printing press gripper arm having contact plates secured inrecesses in the upper and lower surfaces of such arm, means to insulatesuch plates from the arm, said plates projecting transversely of the armand beyond one side edge thereof, the ends ot the plates beyond the armbeing bent t0- ward each other and alined, the free edges of such endsbeing normall spaced, and a set screw threaded throng the arm andadapted to be adjusted relative to the paperengaging surface of the arm.

7. A printing press gripper arm, a contact strip secured thereon andinsulated therefrom, a block adjustable longitudinally of said arm, acontact plate carried by said block, and a second Contact plate carriedby and insulated from said block, said seoond arm being adapted to beenergized by said strip.

8. A. printing press gripper arm, a Contact strip secured thereon andinsulated therefrom, a block adjustable longitudinally of said arm, aContact plate carried by said block, and a second Contact plate carriedby and insulated from said block, Said second arm being arranged todirectly Contact with said strip in a circuit closing movement of suchplate.

9. A printing press gripper arm, a contact strip secured thereon andinsulated therefrom, a block adjustable longitudinally of said arm, aContact plate carried by said block, and a second Contact plate carriedby and insulated from said block, said second arm being adapted to beenergized by said strip, said plates projecting beyond the inner edge ofthe arm and having their terminals bent toward each other.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

HOWARD F. AYLOR.

